# Alexander Graham Bell's Voice

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-graham-bells-voice/656763>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 26, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-graham-bells-voice/656763 "2013-04-26T15:06:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-graham-bells-voice/656763/1 "2013-04-26T15:06:11Z")

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Link to youtube video;

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qTpWD28Vcq0/maxresdefault.jpg "Alexander Graham Bell's Voice, Recorded April 15, 1885") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTpWD28Vcq0)

> **[Alexander Graham Bell's Voice Identified on 1885 Recording](https://www.pcmag.com/news/alexander-graham-bells-voice-identified-on-1885-recording)**
>
> The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History today released a recording of Alexander Graham Bell testing his audio-recording technology - the first time his voice has ever been heard.

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**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-graham-bells-voice/656763/2 "2013-04-26T15:28:51Z")

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That is so cool.

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**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-graham-bells-voice/656763/3 "2013-04-26T20:25:55Z")

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It’s amazing that we can recover information from such an antiquated data source.

(That applies equally to the wax disc and to articles in PC Magazine, of course.)

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**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-graham-bells-voice/656763/4 "2013-04-26T21:52:15Z")

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I’m reminded of [the work to recover the video recordings of John Logie Baird](http://bairdtelevision.com/), the Scottish television pioneer. He invented one of the early mechanical television systems that used a light source and a spinning disc with a spiral of lenses to create the lines on the screen. Baird recorded the signals created by his camera to a 78 RPM disc, but was unable to stabilize the signal for display. Not until fairly recently have they been played back.

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**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-graham-bells-voice/656763/5 "2013-04-26T22:30:54Z")

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Man, you give him _one_ list and it’s blah, blah, blah all day.

Just kidding, fantastic!

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**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-graham-bells-voice/656763/6 "2013-04-26T23:44:35Z")

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So awesome!